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WORK TITLE: Seven Ways of Looking at Religion
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CITY: Oxford, England
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COUNTRY: United Kingdom
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http://www.iasc-culture.org/people_fellow.php?ID=166 * http://www.iasc-culture.org/bios/SchewelCV.pdf * https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-schewel-64b81735/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
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| 670 | __ |a Seven ways of looking at religion, c2017: |b title page (Benjamin Schewel) back jacket flap (a fellow in the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain at the University of Groningen and an affliliate scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia) |
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:University of Virginia, B.A., 2009; M.A., 2010; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Ph.D., 2014.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, associate fellow, 2014–. Refugee Studies Centre at University of Oxford, Oxford, England, visiting research fellow, 2015–. Worked formerly as a research fellow at Belgian American Education Foundation, 2010-2011; research fellow at Fulbright U.S. Student Program, 2010-2011; instructor, KU Leuven, 2011-2012.
MEMBER:American Academy of Religion, American Philosophical Association, International Studies Association, Association for Baha’i Studies.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Benjamin Schewel is a writer and scholar of religious studies. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, both in religious studies. He then went onto receive his Ph.D. from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in philosophy. Schewel is an associate fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia and a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. His areas of research include religion and the public sphere and the role that religious-ethical language and ideas play in the global discourse on forced migration.
Seven Ways of Looking at Religion: The Major Narratives is Schewel’s first book. The seven ways of looking at religion referred to in the book’s title address the seven leading narratives that scholars of religious studies rely on when answering the question of why secularism has not won out over religion. Schewel introduces each of the seven viewpoints, and provides examples to elucidate their meanings and significances.
“The Subtraction Narrative” provides an overview of various philosophers’ claims that religious faith is declining. Schewel cites Daniel Dennett’s research regarding the evolution of religious practices, John Dewey’s emphasis on naturalism over the supernatural associated with religion, and Marcel Gauchet’s assertions that human-focused efforts are replacing religion. Schewel then addresses “The Renewal Narrative,” which suggests that the advances in society and technology are leading to a resurgence in religious fervor. “The Transsecular Narrative” offers a similar posit, suggesting modern advances may not just inspire more religious passion, but will energize religion.
“The Postnaturalist Narrative” inspires a balance between secularism and spirituality, embracing components of Darwin’s theory and integrating them into spiritual practices. “The Construct Narrative” points to the importance of religion on influencing the trajectory of humankind, while “The Perennial Narrative” emphasizes human’s inability to truly understand, and therefore dismiss, religion. “The Developmental Narrative” describes a future in which humans more thoroughly understand God, and therefore have a closer relationship with religion. Schewel refers to philosophers and historians of religion as he describes each of these narratives.
A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote of the book, “it will work well for beginning graduate seminars both to introduce a range of theories and to model a method of respectful critique.”
In describing Schewel’s writing style, John L. Murphy in Reading Religion website noted, “he lapses into neither jargon nor cant,” while Mark Movsesian in Law and Religion Forum website wrote, “Schewel…may be helpful, if only to categorize our confusion.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2017, review of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion: The Major Narratives, p. 61.
ONLINE
Law and Religion Forum, https://lawandreligionforum.org/ (October 18, 2017), Mark Movsesian, review of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion.
Reading Religion, http://readingreligion.org/ (February 21, 2018), John L. Murphy, review of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion.
Benjamin Schewel
Benjamin Schewel
Associate Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at University of Virginia
University of Oxford Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Oxford, United Kingdom 208 208 connections
Experience
University of Oxford
Visiting Research Fellow, Refugee Studies Centre
Company Name University of Oxford
Dates Employed Jan 2015 – Present Employment Duration 3 yrs 3 mos
Location Oxford, United Kingdom
University of Virginia
Associate Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture
Company Name University of Virginia
Dates Employed Aug 2014 – Present Employment Duration 3 yrs 8 mos
Location Charlottesville, Virginia Area
KU Leuven
Instructor
Company Name KU Leuven
Dates Employed Aug 2011 – Jul 2012 Employment Duration 1 yr
Fulbright U.S. Student Program
Research Fellow
Company Name Fulbright U.S. Student Program
Dates Employed Aug 2010 – Aug 2011 Employment Duration 1 yr 1 mo
Location Belgium
Belgian American Education Foundation
Research Fellow
Company Name Belgian American Education Foundation
Dates Employed Aug 2010 – Aug 2011 Employment Duration 1 yr 1 mo
Location Belgium
Education
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Field Of Study Philosophy
Dates attended or expected graduation 2010 – 2014
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Field Of Study Philosophy and Religious Studies
Dates attended or expected graduation 2013 – 2014
Visiting Graduate Student
University of Virginia
University of Virginia
Degree Name Master of Arts (M.A.)
Field Of Study Religious Studies
Dates attended or expected graduation 2009 – 2010
Skills & Endorsements
Research
See 8 endorsements for Research 8
Endorsed by Hannah Trible, who is highly skilled at this
Endorsed by 2 of Benjamin’s colleagues at KU Leuven
Teaching
See 6 endorsements for Teaching 6
Endorsed by Milton George, PhD., who is highly skilled at this
Higher Education
See 4 endorsements for Higher Education 4
Christopher Schwartz and 3 connections have given endorsements for this skill
Accomplishments
Benjamin has 2 languages 2
Languages
English French
Interests
KU Leuven
KU Leuven
179,708 followers
University of Oxford
University of Oxford
366,301 followers
Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven
Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven
29,928 followers
University of Virginia
University of Virginia
166,166 followers
Sociology of religion
Sociology of religion
12,770 members
The Philosophy Network
The Philosophy Network
33,535 members
See all
BENJAMIN SCHEWEL CURRICULUM VITAE 1/9/2015
EDUCATION
Watson Manor 3 University Circle Charlottesville, VA, 22903 bbs9g@virginia.edu (preferred) ben.schewel@hiw.kuleuven.be
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2014
Dissertation: Seven Narratives: An Analysis of the Contemporary Scholarly Discourse on Religion
Supervisor: William Desmond
Visiting Graduate Student, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, 2013-2014 M.Phil in Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2011
MA in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2010
BA in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2009
ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS
Associate Fellow, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, 2014-2015
Visiting Research Fellow, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, 2015
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST
Ethics, Applied Ethics, Religion and the Public Sphere, Secularization, Philosophy of Religion, 19th and 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Science and Religion, Theories of Religion
AREAS OF TEACHING COMPETANCE
Philosophy of Science, History of Modern Thought, Modern Christian Thought, History of Religions, Social and Political Philosophy, Multiple Modernities
PUBLICATIONS Journal Articles:
(Forthcoming) “Narratives of Religion: Correlating Bahá’í and Academic Perspectives.” The Journal of Bahá’í Studies.
2014. “What is ‘Postsecular’ about Global Political Discourse?.” The Review of Faith and International Affairs 12 (4): 49–61.
2013. “Naturalizing Phenomenology, Phenomenologizing Nature.” Radical Orthodoxy: Theology, Philosophy, Politics 1 (3): 504–15.
Book Chapters:
(Forthcoming) “The Axial Age and Progressive Revelation: Historical Reflections on Religion and the Public Sphere.” In Religion and the Public Sphere, edited by Benjamin Schewel and Geoffrey Cameron. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press.
2013. “Whitehead’s Narrative Framework in ‘Science and the Modern World’.” In Chromatikan IX: Annales de la philosophie en procès, edited by Michel Weber. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belguim: Les Éditions Chromatikas,165-170.
2013. "Michel Henry and Eugen Fink: Material and Meontic Phenomenology." In La vie et les vivants: (Re-)Lire Michel Henry, edited by G. Jean, J. Leclercq, and N. Monseu. Louvain- la-Neuve, Belgium: Press universitaires de Louvain. 129-134.
Book Reviews:
(Forthcoming) The Modern Spirit of Asia, by Peter van der Veer in The Hedgehog Review. 2014. Human Rights in an Advancing Civilization, by Aaron Emmanuel in The Review of Faith
& International Affairs.
Works in Preparation:
Book:
Seven Narratives: An Analysis of the Contemporary Academic Discourse on Religion
Edited Volumes:
Schewel, Benjamin, and Erin K. Wilson, ed. Religion and European Society: A Primer for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Students.
Schewel, Benjamin, and Geoffrey Cameron, ed. Religion and the Public Sphere: Baha’i Perspectives and Experiences.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters:
“Faith Beyond Borders: The Ethics of Altruism in Forced Migration Humanitarianism.”
“What Philosophers of Religion Can Learn from Philosophers of Science.” For submission to
The Journal of Religion
AWARDS AND HONORS
2012-2013 Flemish Government Fellowship
2010-2011 U.S. Students Fulbright Award to Belgium/Luxemburg
2010-2011 Belgian American Education Foundation Fellowship
2010 Kate Connolly-Weinert Prize - American Academy of Religion: Mid Atlantic Regional Conference
2010 University of Virginia (UVA) Summer Language Grant
2009 UVA Children of Abraham Award
2009 UVA Undergraduate Small Research Grant
2009 UVA Jewish Studies Program Essay Competition Finalist
2009 Recognition for Distinguished Service – UVA Z Secret Society 2007 UVA Student Council New and Emerging Leader Award
2006 UVA Echols Scholar 2006 UVA Intermediate Honors
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY
Invited Talk:
2014 “Seven Narratives: An Analysis of the Contemporary Scholarly Discourse on Religion.” Religion in Society Research Group Seminar, Department of International Development, University of Oxford (February 7)
Papers Presented:
2014 “The Bahá’í Faith and the Public Sphere.” Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, Toronto (August 7-10)
2014 “Faith Beyond Borders: Considering the Role of Religion in Asylum Policy and Discourse.” Addressing the Asylum Crisis: Religious Contributions to Rethinking Protection in Global Politics, Brussels School of International Studies, University of
Kent (June 26)
2014 “Considering Practice: What Philosophers of Religion Can Learn from Philosophers
of Science.” Philosophy, Religion and Public Policy, presented by the AHRC Philosophy and Religious Practices Network, University of Chester (April 8-9)
2013 “Subtracting and Renewing the Soul.” The Soul, presented by The Center of Theology and Philosophy, St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford (June 29)
2012 “Religion with the Soul of Science.” Second Annual Graduate Student Conference at the University of Leuven, Higher Institute of Philosophy. Leuven, Belgium (March 22)
2011 “Naturalizing Phenomenology, Phenomenologizing Nature.” What is Life?
Theology, Science, and Philosophy, presented by The Center of Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham. Krákow, Poland (June 24-28)
2011 “Whitehead’s Narration of the Crisis.” First Annual Graduate Student Conference at the University of Leuven, Higher Institute of Philosophy. Leuven, Belgium (April 1)
2011 “Energetics in the Writings of Teilhard de Chardin and Shoghi Effendi.” The Third International Conference on Modern Religions and Religious Movements in Judaism Christianity and Islam and the Bábí-Bahá’í Faiths at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Israel (March 22-24)
2010 “Michel Henry and Eugen Fink: Material and Meontic Phenomenology.” (Re)Livre Michel Henry. La Vie et Les Vivants: Congrès International à l’occasion de l’overture du Fonds Michel Henry à l’Université Catholique de Louvain. Louvain-la-Nouve, Belgium (December 15-17)
2010 “What Place does the Religious Hold in Mind and Life?: Cognitive Science, Cosmology, Phenomenology and the Pragmatist Project.” Embodiment, Intersubjectivity and Psychopathology International Conference at the University of Heidelberg. Heidelberg, Germany (September 30 – October 2)
2010 “Bahá’í Among the Children of Abraham: A Phenomenological Reading of the Relationship between Spiritual States and Worldly Conflict in Bahá’u’lláh’s Seven Valleys.” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion Mid-Atlantic Region. New Brunswick, NJ (March 11–12)
Panelist/Respondent:
2014 “The Role of Religion in Society.” Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, Toronto (August 7-10)
2013 “British Foreign Policy and the English School of IR,” by John
Milbank and Adrian Pabst. Seminar Series on Culture, Religion, and Contemporary Geopolitics, sponsored by Wolfson College and the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (November 11)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2012 Teaching Assistant, Philosophy of Science, Undergraduate Seminar, Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Fall 2012
2012 Teaching Assistant, Philosophy of God, Masters Seminar, Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Spring 2012
2011 Teaching Assistant, Advanced Ethics, Masters Seminar, Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Fall 2011
2011 Instructor, Participating in the Prevalent Discourses of Society, Undergraduate Seminar, Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, Summer 2011
GRADUATE COURSES TAKEN
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Philosophy of God (Audited) – William Desmond
Advanced Ethics (Audited) – William Desmond
French Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis - Paul Moyaert and Rudi Visker
Husserl’s “Crisis” Texts - Ulrich Melle
Jean Paul Sartre - Roland Breeur
Proclus - Gerd Van Riel
Modernity and Its Discontents - André Cloots and Guido Vanheeswijck
Evil in German Philosophy: Kant, Hegel, Schelling - William Desmond and Martin Moors Forms of Life in Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel - Ludovicus De Vos
Logic - Jacob Chandler and Lorenz Demy
University of Virginia
Religious Ethics (Audited) – Charles Matthews and Willis Jenkins Semiotics and Scripture (Audited) – Peter Ochs
Aristotle’s Metaphysics - Daniel Devereux
Islamic Theology and Philosophy - Ahmed H. al-Rahim Phenomenology and Theology - Kevin Hart Kierkegaard and Levinas - Jamie Ferreira
Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion - Jamie Ferreira
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason - George Thomas Heidegger - Kevin Hart
Phenomenology and American Pragmatism - Peter Ochs
LANGUAGES
English (native)
French (strong conversational and excellent reading) German (read with dictionary)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE
Research Associate, Oxford House Consultancy, 2013-present
Research Associate, Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, Global Movement of Populations Project, 2013-present
Research Associate and Consultant, The Bahá’í International Community, Brussels Office, 2013-present
Elected Member, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Belgium, 2011-2013
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
American Academy of Religion American Philosophical Association International Studies Association Association for Baha’i Studies
REFERENCES
William Desmond, Ph.D.
Professor
Institute of Philosophy
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Kardinaal Mercierplein 2
B-3000, Leuven, Belgium
+ 32 16 32 63 33 william.desmond@hiw.kuleuven.be
Holly Hanson, Ph.D.
Professor of History and Chair
Department of History Mount Holyoke College 314 Skinner Hall
50 College Street
South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075 413-538-2094 hhanson@mtholyoke.edu
Peter Ochs, Ph.D.
Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia
PO Box 400126 434-924-6718 pwo3v@virginia.edu
Benjamin Schewel
Affiliated Scholar
Bio
Contact
Benjamin Schewel is a Fellow in the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain at the University of Groningen and an affiliated scholar at the Institute. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from KU Leuven and has also held visiting positions at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford and the Centre for the Humanities at Utrecht University. His research concentrates on questions concerning religion and the public sphere. concerning the role of religion in the public sphere, and he is currently examining the role that religious-ethical language and ideas play in the global discourse on forced migration. His first book, entitled, Seven Narratives of Religion, is currently forthcoming with Yale University Press. He is also co-editing a collection of essays, entitled, Religion and European Society, for Wiley-Blackwell.
Seven Ways of Looking at Religion: The Major Narratives
Publishers Weekly.
264.24 (June 12, 2017): p61. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Seven Ways of Looking at Religion: The Major Narratives
Benjamin Schewel. Yale Univ., $40 (248p) ISBN 978-0-300-21847-3
Schewel, associate fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, compiles seven major narratives that scholars rely on in response to the following question: Why hasn't secularism won out against religion? One line of argument is that advances in scientific knowledge will necessarily end religion's influence while others claim that modernity's ills can only be solved by a return to religion. A third group points out that the conflict between religion and modernity is a particularly Western fixation while another group articulates a cyclical recurrence of the same religious impulses in varying forms. For each narrative, Schewel introduces and carefully unpacks the arguments of three scholars. He does not provide much rationale or context for the scholars he includes, creating a sometimes-jarring juxtaposition of figures, such as when he pairs Hegel, Heidegger, or Rudolph Otto with scholars first published in the past five years. Schewel offers gentle and balanced critiques of each line of argument to highlight its limitations and, in his conclusion, briefly suggests that a nonteleological developmental model is the most compelling and can subsume the others. However, granting this idea more space would make his claim more persuasive. While the work is a little shallow for experts and too advanced for undergraduates, it will work well for beginning graduate seminars both to introduce a range of theories and to model a method of respectful critique. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Seven Ways of Looking at Religion: The Major Narratives." Publishers Weekly, 12 June 2017,
p. 61. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495720730 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=11291de5. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.
1 of 2 3/23/18, 9:41 PM
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A495720730
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Seven Ways of Looking at Religion
The Major Narratives
Benjamin Schewel
New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press
, September
2017.
248 pages.
$40.00.
Hardcover.
ISBN 9780300218473.
For other formats: Link to Publisher's Website.
Review
Three approaches to the study of religion tend to dominate: surveys of tradition exemplified by Huston Smith; theories such as those pioneered by Max Weber and Emile Durkheim; and cultural themes like power, gender, ritual, and belief. None of these satisfied Benjamin Schewel, so a decade ago, he began writing a guide he could not find, one that maps a broader view.
Seven perspectives beckon. Schewel introduces a framework, a justification for its inclusion, and three exponents of each type. These illustrate “the narrative commitments that undergird the various strands of the contemporary academic discourse on religion” (194).
“The Subtraction Narrative” unsurprisingly stimulates reactions by philosophers and historians of religion. Daniel Dennett suggests various suppositions about the evolution of religious tendencies. John Dewey embraces naturalism instead of supernaturalism. Marcel Gauchet charts how religion has gradually declined as human-centered projects supplant it.
An opposite movement, “The Renewal Narrative,” regards this ebb “as a sign of humanity’s growing desire for substantive spiritual renewal” (33). Virtue ethics imbued with a Catholic influence satisfies Alasdair MacIntyre. Recovery of the pre-Socratic openness towards investigation pleases Martin Heidegger. The resurgence of the purity of “golden-age Islam” comforts Muhammed Iqbal. For Schewel, the simple fact that three disparate proposals coexist weakens any particular appeal to one tradition.
Modernity may energize religion, rather than dissipate its spirit, in what Schewel calls “The Transsecular Narrative.” Schewel often cites Charles Taylor, who promotes “exclusive humanism” as but one element in an “immanent frame” broadening “metaphysical and theological conceptions in a way that premodern cultures could not” (57).
Yet, for Schewel, Taylor “ends up perpetuating a falsely nativist historical world-view” dismissing “the robust global contexts within which the modern West emerged” (63). A slump, for another observer of Western prospects, accounts for a model of an open American but monopoly European Christian market. Schewel exposes flaws in Rodney Stark’s argument, although remaining more sympathetic to Jeffrey Stout’s dogged avowal of “constructive religious contributions to public discourse” (74) which advance America’s democracy.
Secular and secularism share with natural and naturalism multivalent meanings. Thomas Nagel’s effort to display “some kind of Platonism” as a teleological foil against the excesses of neo-Darwinian assertions for cosmic evolution—what Schewel calls “The Postnaturalist Narrative”—incites Schewel’s longest rebuttal thus far. However, he typically returns to an equitable ruling, here on Nagel’s strengths. Hans Jonas reports Gnostic tendencies reoccurring in modern Western intellectual as well as religious legacies. Alfred North Whitehead’s historical and scientific details from a century ago need revision, but Schewel guardedly agrees with Whitehead’s quest to reconcile science and religion.
Similarly, intellectual history motivates what Schewel calls “The Construct Narrative,” which looks at the massive alteration religion causes in human affairs. In too brief an entry, Talal Asad points back to medieval Christian monasticism, resulting much later in the privatization of belief and practice. Guy Strousma considers the cause of missionaries encountering the wider world in the early modern era, and their effect on an outmoded Christian and Eurocentric polity. So does Jason Josephson. He corrects Edward Said’s miscalculated locus for Orientalism, transferring it from the Middle to the Far East; Josephson details Japanese influences upon Western religious notions.
Moving to a venerable alternative attitude towards non-Western ideas, “The Perennial Narrative” stretches beyond traditionalists. Aldous Huxley values spiritual objectivity. John Hick testifies that a religious reality not only exists but exceeds finite human comprehension, and that this realization generates other-centeredness away from selfishness, extending Huxley’s stance. Hick’s “metaphysical ambiguity” complements Rudolf Otto’s arousal of love and fear into the numinous experience. Schewel sides with Hick’s defined transcendence.
Development and growth—“The Developmental Narrative”—occupy the last thematic chapter, commencing with G.W.F. Hegel’s proposal that as humans understand God better, so religion advances. This dense thesis demands articulation, which Schewel adds. He leans away from any Eurocentricity based on Hegel’s limited global knowledge. Karl Jaspers’s Axial Age formulation helps. Schewel realizes its limitations, but its scaffolding withstands sociological inspection. Robert Bellah’s interplay between “cognitive capacities” and religious epochs incorporates Jaspers’s chronology, even if Bellah doubts another impending Axial Age. Still, as Schewel puts it pithily, Bellah fails to answer “why religion?”
When concluding, Schewel synthesizes these seven typologies. He warns that he relates a history of religion, not a narrative of religious history. Seconding Hick, Schewel avers that a spiritual reality exceeds human understanding. He parallels that developmental narrative by highlighting the tribal, archaic, Axial Age (extended until ca. 1500 CE), early modern, and global stages of religious emergence. These two dozen pages depart from his guided tour of its theoretical predecessors, and is rather a brisk survey over millennia.
His prospectus predicts that religion will endure in global affairs. Pluralities among competing communities will spread and accelerate. Leading figures will try to alter this future by aggressive or amicable means. Schewel idealistically judges globalization as easing a benign application of how “religion’s many constructive powers can be effectively encouraged” (191) while discouraging its less amenable expressions. Intellectual elites will consider religious compatibility with “the natural-scientific framework.” Finally, a second Axial Age may emerge.
This may spark conversations among students of the philosophy, history, and cultures of religion. Schewel discusses these concepts in academic language, but he lapses into neither jargon nor cant. His endnotes not only document but in some cases enrich his text with further commentary. Nearly two hundred and fifty sources display Schewel’s range of research. Given the complexity of this content, the index assists comprehension of its academic assertions. That book which Schewel had not found can now be consulted. May it ease the perplexity of many inquirers.
About the Reviewer(s):
John L. Murphy is Humanities Coordinator at DeVry University.
Date of Review:
February 21, 2018
About the Author(s)/Editor(s)/Translator(s):
Benjamin Schewel is a fellow in the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain at the University of Groningen and an affiliate scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.
Categories:
history theories of religion 20th century 21st century
Keywords:
subtraction, renewal, transsecular, postnaturalist, construct, perennial, developmental
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Schewel, “Seven Ways of Looking at Religion”
October 18, 2017 By Mark Movsesian in Books, Scholarship Roundup Tags: Definition of Religion Leave a comment
c6280932b49dc826a8e2e7ce5a059c97Religious freedom is, to put it as neutrally as one can, a contested concept nowadays. One reason for the controversy is that our culture, and therefore our law, no longer agrees exactly what religion is. So it’s important to grapple with the question, what is religion and why do we protect its exercise? A new book from Yale University Press, Seven Ways of Looking at Religion, by Benjamin Schewel (University of Groningen) may be helpful, if only to categorize our confusion. Here’s a description from the Yale website:
Western intellectuals have long theorized that religion would undergo a process of marginalization and decline as the forces of modernity advanced. Yet recent events have disrupted this seductively straightforward story. As a result, while it is clear that religion has somehow evolved from its tribal beginnings up through modernity and into the current global age, there is no consensus about what kind of narrative of religious change we should alternatively tell. Seeking clarity, Benjamin Schewel organizes and evaluates the prevalent narratives of religious history that scholars have deployed over the past century and are advancing today. He argues that contemporary scholarly discourse on religion can be categorized according to seven central narratives: subtraction, renewal, transsecular, postnaturalist, construct, perennial, and developmental. Examining the basic logic, insights, and limitations of each of these narratives, Schewel ranges from Martin Heidegger to Muhammad Iqbal, from Daniel Dennett to Charles Taylor, to offer an incisive, broad, and original perspective on religion in the modern world.